


Nightwing and Flamebird

by BunnyJess



Category: DCU, Nightwing (Comics), Teen Titans - All Media Types, Titans (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Ethiopia moment, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bruce Wayne is a Bad Parent, Bruce gets punched, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Good Older Sibling Dick Grayson, M/M, Nightwing and Flamebird, No explicit underage, Titans welcome a new hero, jason doesn’t die, only kissing between JayRoy, poor communication
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:54:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26627050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunnyJess/pseuds/BunnyJess
Summary: Sometimes you don’t need a dad who dresses as a bat with an ex-sas operative to save your life. Sometimes all you need is a brother who believes in you, who’ll protect you no matter what, and his team to help you heal...at least that’s what Jason’s discovered.
Relationships: Dick Grayson/koriand’r, Jason Todd/Roy Harper
Comments: 4
Kudos: 185





	Nightwing and Flamebird

**Author's Note:**

> Idk what inspired this. Written months ago...finally posted.

Two figures, cloaked in darkness, slipped through a skylight in Blüdhaven. The euphoria from a successful night on patrol thrumming through them both. Neither quite willing to give in and sleep.

They changed out of their suits, Nightwing and Flamebird giving way to Dick Grayson and Jason Wayne. The brothers happy with the city a little safer and neither having sustained a more serious injury than some bruises. Their new suits, co-designed with Alfred, providing them far more protection than that of Robin or the now infamous Discowing.

It had been a long road getting to where they were. Brothers and best friends content with their own little corner of the world and the escape it provided from a city that had tried to drag them down. A city that nearly caused Dick to lose his little brother forever.

Thick-as-thieves, they’d been an adorable nuisance to their adoptive father and grandfather when Jason had been younger. Prank wars and general mischief causing many a long suffering sigh and extended chore chart. The elders original mantle of Robin being passed on before Bruce even got the chance to offer it to his newest son.

Life had changed a year ago though. Benched from the role of Robin and feeling lost, left adrift in a world he didn’t fit in, Jason had sought out a woman he thought was the only family he had left. Convinced that Dick would side with Bruce and he’d lost both his father and brother. A fourteen and a half hour flight ending in betrayal and a beating.

Luckily, just before running across the globe, Jason had phoned Dick. Sobbing into his voicemail and telling the older boy he didn’t hold it against him if he now hated Jason. Robin a Grayson family name that he’d not been able to maintain the glory of. A useless street rat who’d lived up to his worth.

Dick had stormed the manor, his team of teenaged heroes waiting impatiently in one of his Gotham safe houses. Intent on demanding answers from his father and on consoling his little brother. Only to find the man deep in a case about Joker and completely ignoring the ‘childish tantrum of a dangerous and violent boy’. It had been all he’d needed to hear, punching Bruce square in the jaw and fleeing back to his team.

The Titans had their own jet. A gift from Diana to Donna that was now their most valuable piece of tech as it got them to Ethiopia in under seven hours. Still, it was long enough for Jason to have met a woman more concerned with her own reputation than a boy she’d birthed.

Scanning the area surrounding the last ping of Jason’s cell revealed a relief camp and a series of abandoned warehouses. The team, with the exception of Dick and Roy, had believed the warehouses unimportant. Their experience lying with more obvious villains than the scheming mania of people like Joker or Two-Face. Roy’s city having enough of the buildings to understand the significance to Dick.

Three hours later they found what they’d been searching for. One small lead in a crowded camp. A worker delighting in telling the teenagers researching Doctors Without Borders how Shelia had been visited by her son who’d gushed with pride over how his mum was helping those in desperate need. Offering to take him on a tour of their facilities, including the warehouse where they kept their supplies.

Dick had ordered the standard approach formation. Him and Roy on the roof, sneaking in through the skylight, Wally running reconnaissance with Garth and Donna covering the exits while Kori covered them all from the air, the sweltering sun providing her with a burst of extra power and energy. Donna also prepared to provide a frontal assault as a distraction, even if she still believed it was unnecessary.

Creeping in had fetched the two non-meta powered members of the team upon a sickening sight. Shelia Haywood was leaning casually against a pillar, smoking and spitting vitriol towards her son, while Joker beat said boy within an inch of his life. The shattering of bone and their accompanying screams mixing with the sound of maniacal laughter nearly causing the two men to fall from their perches.

One quiet message sent to the rest of the team had them bursting into action. Donna storming the door and distracting the clown. His pout audible as he complained about her ruining the punchline. Oh so nearly getting a hit in on Jason except it was intercepted by an arrow embedding into his hand, crowbar clattering to the floor as he wailed out another complaint. Pain not registering to the insane clown.

Dick had had to restrain himself, focusing on cuffing and subduing Shelia while Kori and Wally got Jason to the waiting jet. He knew if he went near Joker his infamous temper would rise up and the clown would be no more. A delay his brother couldn’t afford.

As it was, the clown was still having a trying time of it. The Amazon warrior taking him down and enabling Roy to pin him in place with his arrows. Garth dousing the warehouse in water from a nearby water tanker to render any further surprises moot.

Jason’s recovery at Titans Tower took six months. The first four absent of his father as the man wallowed in guilt and attempted to find ways to blame his youngest for the troubling turn of events. None of his research showing how deeply Shelia had been working with Joker. Both now secure in an Ethiopia prison awaiting extradition back to the US.

Those four months caused an irreparable rift between father and sons. The teenagers realising how disposable they were. How easily to put aside they were for a promise made by an eight-year-old. The rift growing when Bruce had fetched in Timothy Drake without consulting the former and current Robins. Both becoming former as Tim took the mantle with only Bruce’s blessing.

Finding a new identity had been difficult. Countless hours of shooting ideas back and forth between the team as they helped their newest member. Eventually Roy remembering the legend Nightwing came from in Kyrptonian culture. His partner Flamebird providing assistance and a balance to protect the people.

It had been the first time Jason had kissed the archer. Pulling the older man’s face down and planting a firm kiss on his lips as he crowed about the idea. Stunned silence meeting the move as Jason ran off to find Dick in the training room. Leaving Roy to face a found-sister and Jason’s future sister-in-law, two women who were very overprotective of the small hero.

Flamebird had been born. The name feeling right to Jason as it was that of Nightwing’s partner while also referencing the bombs found in the warehouse. A bird meant to be destroyed by fire rising up to continue fighting for what he believed in.

Bruce had been furious when he’d found out. Refusing to let Flamebird patrol Gotham as he felt Jason should give up hero work and focus on school. It was all in an effort to protect the teen, however, with his incompetence at communication it came off as controlling. Making it seem like only three people could patrol the city; Batman, Robin, and Batgirl.

Whereas before the accident Jason would have argued with the man, forced his point to be heard. This time he just dropped his shoulders in defeat and returned to his new home. A sudden realisation settling into his mind; the Batman only found them useful until they were gravely injured, after that they were no longer a colourful distraction for goons but a distraction for him.

The team supported him, even supported the fledgling romance between the troubled archer and newest member, bombarding him with suit ideas and distractions when the news fetched up terrible memories. Or memories that just hurt now. Joker escaping, the new Robin flying over the city. Harley Quinn getting involved with Joker’s schemes despite appearing to have left him.

When Jason had felt ready to return to patrol it had been with his brother by his side. Nightwing and Flamebird flying over Blüdhaven to make the port city a little safer. The citizens of the city thrilled they had a new hero in their midst. If one hero had managed to clean up the streets and police force as well as they had, then two should surely mean a greater sense of safety.

The two brothers collapsed onto the sofa, mugs of hot chocolate tucked into their chests in steady grips. The recipe one of Alfred’s and only able to be replicated by his second youngest grandson; who also happened to be the only member of the family he trusted in the kitchen, Bruce just incompetent and Dick too used to the outdoor space the circus had supplied. Those early memories and lessons showing in their styles of meal preparation.

“Happy anniversary Jaybird.” Dick said. A smile in his voice and a bigger one lighting up his face. His eyes hiding a sadness he still felt at his brother feeling so alone he’d had to run off to a woman who’d had more sides than Two-Face.

Jason just looked at his brother in confusion. The older man chuckling as he watched the cogs turn. Jason knew it wasn’t his anniversary with Roy, that was two months ago and the pair had spent three days lounging around Hawaii. It also wasn’t his adoption day or his birthday.

“You’ve been patrolling the ‘haven as Flamebird for two years today.” He helpfully supplied.

A blush dusted Jason’s cheeks. He’d honestly forgotten. Flamebird feeling so right for him that it felt like he’d been the hero from day one. Robin a distant memory, a memory with a man they only saw on holidays or mandated family dinner nights. Nights they’d both attend at Alfred’s insistence.

“Thanks Big Bird.” He lightly kicked Dick’s leg with his foot, moving it to rest in the older boy’s lap. The other joining on their quest to get under the blanket Dick was hogging. He didn’t begrudge the older man. His suit design far warmer than the acrobats due to its many layers.

He shot a smile at his older brother. It was still something he couldn’t believe. Some days taking the reminder from scars across his skin to remember that his brother and their team loved him. All the heroes wanting the best for him. All the heroes except the darkest to grace Gotham’s skyline.

That didn’t matter though. He had his brother and their team. That was all that mattered to him in the end. A new family for a fresh start.


End file.
